Syracuse Crunch

For the first 13-plus minutes in front of his new home crowd at the Onondaga County War Memorial, Syracuse Crunch goalie Cedrick Desjardins waited for his opportunity.

When the shots finally came - 26 in total - the New Brunswick native had an answer, notching his first shutout in a Crunch uniform and third of the season in a 3-0 win over the Springfield Falcons Saturday night.

"You want a good first impression at home," Desjardins said. "I don't think it gets better than that."

Syracuse came into this game 1 point ahead of Springfield for the top spot in the Eastern Conference. This was a battle of titans with a lot on the line, and ultimately Syracuse smoked the Falcons like a fine cigar. Mind you, Springfield netminder Allen York made it interesting, but Syracuse outshot Springfield 46-26 in this game, including 17-8 in the decisive final frame. That was a 1 versus 2 game. Think on that. Then think on the fact that the Crunch have won 6 in a row.

Uh oh, rest of the AHL. Jon Cooper sorted out the post-lockout madness. Jon Cooper has started to tune up the machine again. We've seen this movie before, folks, and we all remember how it ends.

His team trailing 3-2 with less than two minutes remaining in regulation, the Syracuse Crunch forward caught a break. The puck bounced behind the net, and despite many of the Toronto Marlies looking for the puck in the corner, Tyrell found it on his stick.

"I think it went up my pants. To be honest, I'm not really sure what happened," Tyrell said. "I was forechecking the puck down - hunting it down - and it bounced up somewhere. I think it got caught up in my gear somewhere. As I was coming around the net, it dropped down in front of me and I had an open net.

"If we work hard as a team, we're going to get bounces like that," he added.

Tyrell's goal sent the game to overtime and the Crunch completed the comeback in the shootout, topping the Marlies 4-3 at the Onondaga County War Memorial Wednesday night. Syracuse has shrugged its slump that lasted from late January into early February, winning its last five games.

It's been a long, strange trip for Bolt Prospects to arrive at this year's Midterm Prospect Rankings. Between the end of the NHL lockout and an abbreviated training camp, call-ups, graduations, and trades, there's been a lot of movement in the rankings. One lesson learned from the first half of this season: no more standing still for Lightning prospects. Even first and second round picks can't afford to stagnate in their development with so much quality depth within the organization. More than that, the youth movement is already beginning in Tampa Bay with three prospects currently up with the Lightning and recently graduated Keith Aulie also with the NHL club.

Tyler Johnson and Ondrej Palat (pictured) were the game's first and third stars. Palat's 29 assists are tied for 6th most in the league while Johnson is now tied for the lead in goals.

So, after a month of struggling to regain their equilibrium, lookee at the standings and Syracuse is right back on top of the Eastern Conference standings, moving 1 point ahead of Bingo and Springfield. Jon Cooper = Jedi. Syracuse draws the Toronto Marlies on Wednesday.

Riku Helenius (pictured) stopped all 23 shots he faced for his 2nd shutout in the past 3 games and his 4th shutout of the season. He's allowed just 1 goal over the span of those 3 games. We've seen this before with Helenius, when he had a string of shutouts early in the season for JYP en route to backstopping them to a SM-liiga title. His save percentage is still just .891 for the season, and the Lightning just acquired Cedrick Desjardins for a reason, but when Riku starts getting on a roll like this, he can be unbelievable.

Riku Helenius (pictured) allowed 1 goal on 34 shots for the victory. His season save percentage is still languishing at .885, but he's only allowed 1 goal over his last 2 starts and has stopped 56 of 57 shots in that span. There's not a huge opening for Helenius, but with Tokarski gone, if he can take the #1 job in Syracuse and run with it for a great second half and a deep playoff run, he could set himself up to the NHL.

Connolly becomes the third Crunch player to hit 20 goals this season (Johnson and Panik). Dana Tyrell has 3 points in 3 games since being sent down to the AHL. After posting two straight multi-point games, Radko Gudas is just 3 points shy of his pro high in points. He's also 6 PIMs shy of his pro high in penalty minutes, too, for that matter.

Entering the night, Binghamton was tied for the top spot in the Eastern Conference, and Syracuse just smashed them after destroying Albany 6-0 on Wednesday night. Whatever voodoo potion Jon Cooper employed to not only weather all the call ups, the trade of his #1 goaltender, and the lineup shuffling, but to start annihilating teams in the midst of it all, he needs to Fedex a supply to Guy Boucher.

Desjardins, 27, has appeared in 22 games this season with the Hamilton Bulldogs of the American Hockey League, compiling a record of 7-13-2 with a 2.94 goals-against average and .905 save percentage. The Edmundston, New Brunswick, native has played in two career NHL games, both with the Lightning during the 2010-11 season, picking up a pair of victories while recording a 1.00 goals-against average and .968 save percentage.